The Most Important Thing
by Ice-Song
Summary: Digimon Savers Masaru finds out that there's more to being with a digimon then going around and seeking out fights. He needs to learn how to balance his desires to find strong enemies and protect his family [fic reads like an episode, so it's short]
1. Chapter 1

Masaru peered around a tree to get the digimon into focus. An eight foot tall, broad shouldered digimon with a lion's head growled angrily as it continued to demolish the park.

"Aniki?" Agumon whispered softly, tugging at Masaru's uniform jacket. "Let's go," he whined.

"Shhh," Masaru hissed. "We'll go in, just wait for that jerk to get out of our way," he growled as he watch Gaomon pummel Leomon with what he had to grudgingly admit was a pretty good uppercut.

"Oh? Showing restraint?" Yoshino teased quietly from behind another tree. "Getting soft are we?"

Masaru clenched his fist. "No! I need a clear shot if I'm going to make my digisoul appear," he snapped back. "Gaomon's too fast and covers too much area with his punches for me to get one in," he admitted quietly.

Yoshino rolled her eyes. Even if Masaru was doing the right thing by staying back, he was doing it for the wrong reasons.

Gaomon continued to attack but Leomon finally found an opening and slammed the blue digimon into the ground.

Touma stepped forward and snapped his fingers. A faint glow could be seen around his hand as he placed it on his digivice. "Digisoul, charge!" he yelled and held it out. Gaomon began to glow and Leomon was forced back a few steps as Gaogamon appeared in all his glory.

Leomon smirked and ran at the new digimon. Gaogamon took the hit and pushed back hard, forcing Leomon to take several steps back.

"Dammit, I wanted to do something," Masaru hissed. Even he wasn't dumb enough to jump into the middle of a fight between two digimon that were probably a good twice his size.

"Aniki, I wanna fight," Agumon whined. He tugged on Masaru's jacket again with his claws.

"I know!" Masaru hissed back. "Just wait a second, I'm sure they're gonna loose," he smirked.

"Have more faith in your comrades!" Yoshino scolded.

Masaru shrugged and pulled out his digivice, ready to pounce when needed. A slight movement caught his eye and he looked over to some bushes in the distance. "Yoshino, you did evacuate the park right?" he asked.

"OF COURSE I DID!" she snapped. "What, you'd think I'd leave some helpless children to fend for themselves against that?" she pointed at Leomon.

"It was just a question!" Masaru yelled back, his attention taken away from the bushes. "I just wanted to know."

"Well, it was a stupid one," she said through gritted teeth. "I've been doing this job a lot longer then you have and I know procedure."

"All right," Masaru growled softly, setting back on his haunches. "Don't have to get so uptight, jeez."

"Aniki…" Agumon started again but their attention was caught when a cry could be heard from the battle. They both turned their heads just in time to see Leomon use some kind of attack that hit Gaomon right in the stomach. The poor digimon cried out as he fell into the ground and lost his evolution.

"Gaomon!" Touma yelled and ran over to his partner to make sure that Leomon didn't try to hurt him any further.

"Raramon!" Yoshino yelled and pointed at Leomon. "Back them up!"

"Nuts shoot!" Raramon yelled and several seed shaped projectiles came of her mouth and landed on Leomon, exploding on impact. The distraction proved enough to allow Touma to get Gaomon off the battle field and for Masaru to jump up and land a clean punch on Leomon's jaw.

Leomon growled and turned to face the human that dared to land a punch on him. Masaru smirked as his hand glowed with an orange color and held out his digivice. "Ready, Agumon?"

"Ready!" Agumon cheered.

Masaru put his hand on the digivice and yelled out "Digisoul charge!" He watched as Agumon evolved into Geogreymon and immediately shot a fireball that Leomon caught in his hands.

Masaru growled and looked around for something that may help him. "Geogreymon, use your tail!" he yelled.

Geogreymon nodded and swept around, using his tail to knock Leomon off balance and countered with a head but that sent Leomon into the ground.

"Well, you can come up with some battle strategy," Touma smirked.

"Shut. Up," Masaru told him neatly as he focused on the battle.

Geogreymon let loose another fireball that landed directly on Leomon. Smoke and pieces of dirt flew into the air by the impact site. Masaru cheered and walked over to the site. "All right!" he cheered.

"Yay, Masaru-nii-chan killed the monster!" a voice said from behind the bushes.

Masaru turned around slowly to see his little sister run out of the area he had been looking at before. "Chika!" he gasped. "What are you doing here?" he demanded, slightly angry.

"That big guy attacked when I was on the swings," she pouted, using her best little kid face to try and get Masaru to calm down. "When you came I thought it might be better to just hide."

"Chika, when someone tells you to leave, you leave!" Masaru yelled.

"Well, no one told me to leave," Chika countered and put her hands on her hips. "I just got out of the way. What's wrong with that?"

"You could have gotten hurt!" Masaru snapped. He knelt down and started to look over his little sister as he said that. "You could have gotten caught in an attack or something. How would I know? I didn't know you were there!"

Chika switched tactics. "Well, I knew you were here. I knew Masaru-nii-chan would save me if I got into trouble."

Masaru rapped the top of her head lightly with his knuckles, making her wince. "That's not going to get you anywhere, Chika."

Chika pouted, "You're mean," she decided.

Masaru sighed, "And you're where you shouldn't be. Now, I want you to go home and…" he faded off as his lecture was interrupted by rumbling from the impact site. "What?"

Leomon rose and grinned. "Not bad, perhaps I've met a worthy opponent!" he declared. "Come! Let us battle!"

"No," Masaru hissed. Instinctively he grabbed Chika and backed away.

Touma gave him an odd look. "You're not going to battle?"

"With her here? Are you nuts?" Masaru snapped, indicating his little sister. "There's no way I'd let her be this close to a fight!"

"Says the person who went up and punched the thing across the face," Chika muttered.

"This and that are different," Masaru told her.

"Sure," Chika said sarcastically.

Leomon punched the ground and several sections of earth became shaky and trembled beneath their feet. Masaru jumped and landed out of the way as Geogreymon almost lost his footing on the damaged ground.

"Masaru, what are you doing?" Yoshino yelled. "Fight him or we're going to loose a digimon!"

Masaru gritted his teeth and shook his head. "Yoshino, there's a civilian here. We can't!"

"WHAT?" she yelled. "Since when do you…" her voice trailed off as Leomon let loose another ground shaking attack. This time everyone fell to the ground and Masaru lost his grip on his little sister. Chika fell hard on the ground and rolled away from Masaru and Touma who were trying to stand.

"Chika!" Masaru yelled.

"Aniki!" Geogreymon growled.

"Fire something!" Masaru called out desperately. "Don't let him attack again!"

Leomon smirked and punched the ground again before Geogreymon could obey. The giant lizard fell to the ground and Masaru ran as fast as he possibly could to catch Chika before she was smothered by his tail. Masaru rolled and curled around Chika so that she wouldn't be hurt as they came to a stop.

Chika sat up and pushed on Masaru's arm. "Masaru-nii-chan, are you all right?"

Masaru rubbed his head, "Yeah. And if you ever follow me again, I swear…"

"I didn't follow you," she snapped. "I stayed behind!"

Masaru glared at his little sister who glared back. Leomon dusted himself off and walked forwards. "Well, are you going to fight seriously again?" he asked.

Masaru gritted his teeth. He could let Chika get hurt, no matter the cost. First of all, his mother would kill him and secondly it was his job as her older brother to protect her. He looked around and saw a small drop into a river by the park. Quickly he formulated an escape plan.

"Geogreymon, fall back," he growled.

"What?" the digimon replied in shock.

"Masaru, have you gone out of your mind?" Yoshino asked.

Masaru stood up and picked up his little sister. "Fall behind," he whispered. "I'll catch up with you later."

Geogreymon looked at Masaru and nodded. "All right, aniki."

"Chika, when I tell you, hold your breath," he told his little sister.

"Wait, what are you…" Chika started but Masaru had already began to run towards the bank.

"NOW!" he yelled.

Chika took in a lungful of air and shut her eyes as they jumped into the cold, dark water. She felt her brother's arms around her, pulling her as he swam underwater in order to get away undetected. 


	2. Chapter 2

"That idiot!" Touma growled.

Leomon smirked. "Fine, we'll have our rematch," he said and jumped into the night, vanishing quickly in the inky darkness.

Agumon appeared in a flash of light and sat up. "Aniki was scared," he said softly. "He doesn't like it when Chika is in trouble."

Touma, Yoshino, Gaomon and Raramon all looked at the lizard digimon quietly. "Scared?" Touma asked.

Agumon nodded, "It's why he's such a great aniki," he said with a big silly grin. "Come on, let's go find them."

Masaru pulled Chika and himself out of the water, onto a short pier he guessed was for recreational fishing. "Masaru-nii-chan, you're insane," Chika gasped.

Masaru took a few deep breaths. "Sorry, but I wasn't about to let you see how cool I was. That's only allowed once you're older."

Chika giggled and playfully punched her older brother on the arm. "You're silly," she told him.

"Mm," Masaru agreed. "I'm also glad you're safe. Next time someone tells you to leave the area, you should go."

Chika sighed, "Yes, nii-chan!"

Masaru laughed and held her limp hair. "Are you cold?" he asked as she shivered slightly.

"A little," she admitted. "Maybe if you hadn't jumped into a river!"

"You're the one who wanted adventure," he teased wickedly.

Chika didn't get a chance to retort as Agumon ran over and literally pounced on Masaru. "Aniki! I was worried!"

Masaru pushed the digimon off of him. "I'm fine, I can take care of myself!"

Yoshino came down and held out her digivice. "We've been ordered back to headquarters," she told Masaru sternly.

Masaru frowned, "Can I take her home first?" he asked. "She's wet…"

"Whose fault is that, I wonder?" Touma growled softly.

Masaru shot him an angry look and started to retort but Chika patted him on the shoulder. "Can I come? Please?" she asked excitedly.

"Chika, I don't think…" Masaru started but Yoshino cut him off abruptly.

"Yes, you can," she said sweetly. "Do you want to see where your big brother works?"

"Yeah!" Chika replied excitedly. "Can I, Masaru-nii-chan?"

Masaru sighed, "I guess it can't be helped. Come on," he said and put her on the ground.

"The captain isn't happy with you," Yoshino said quietly.

Masaru shrugged and took Chika's hand. "I don't really care," he replied.

Yoshino rolled her eyes. Sometimes guys just weren't worth the effort to deal with.

Masaru carefully took the small bands that held Chika's hair in tiny pony tails out and quickly ran a towel over her head. She giggled as Masaru exaggerated the motion and pulled the towel over her eyes. She pulled it up and stuck her tongue out at her brother. "You'll get my hair all messy," she complained even though she was laughing.

"Maybe some birds will come along and decide your hair would make a nice nest. Then you'd really be a bird brain," he teased while pulling the towel over her wet clothes to try and get her more dry.

Chika pouted, "You're mean," she told Masaru.

Masaru gently finger combed Chika's hair into place. "And you're a bad kid for hiding like that," he retorted.

"If you don't towel off, you'll get sick," Yoshino told him as she brought over some tea.

"That's stupid, you can't get sick from being cold," Masaru scoffed. Even as he said it he felt an itch under his nose and after he said it he sneezed, almost knocking his sister off his lap.

"But you'll be cold and miserable because you're too proud to dry off," Yoshino muttered.

Chika took the towel off of herself and put it on Masaru's head. She gently began to towel off his hair and slapped away his hand when he tried to take over. "No," she told him sternly. "You'll only make your hair all messy then you'll complain when you have to brush it."

Yoshino hid a smile as Chika continued to dry Masaru's hair. Masaru was oddly complacent when it came to his little sister, even if he did tease her a lot.

The captain walked over while Chika was in the middle of toweling off her big brother. "Well?" he asked.

Masaru sighed, "Well what?"

"Your excuse?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Usually you've given one to me by now."

A small blush appeared over Masaru's cheeks for a second before he shrugged and tried to regain his tough guy attitude. "I just didn't want Chika to get caught up in everything," he shrugged. "That's all."

Chika giggled but didn't say anything as she finished drying his hair. She was perfectly aware of how much Masaru was worried about her and part of her loved it. Another part said that Masaru was too overprotective. Mostly she was just glad they were all safe.

The captain sighed. "I'll let it go, as keeping civilians safe is the most important thing. However, tomorrow you have to go seek out the renegade digimon, understand?"

"As long as it's after school," Chika answered for him.

Masaru eyed her. "Since when did you become mom?" he asked her dubiously.

Chika playfully pulled the towel down over Masaru's eyes. "When you started to act more like a kid then me," she chided with a laugh.

Masaru pulled the towel up and he smirked at his little sister. "I'm still older then you," he noted. "And I can do this!" he announced and started to tickle her.

She laughed until the tears came and begged him to stop. Finally, Masaru let up and she relaxed on his lap, still giggling.

"This isn't a day care center," Touma said coldly.

Masaru eyed him, "I wanted to drop her off at home," he growled dangerously.

Before Touma could retort the captain cleared his throat. "Well then, now that everything is settled, everyone is dismissed for the night. Masaru, Touma, you two will search for the digimon after 3 PM, understand?"

"Yes sir," Touma said professionally and walked out of the door.

"All right," Masaru drawled and put Chika on the ground. Chika kind of wanted to stay in Masaru's arms but she knew she was too old to ask to be carried home piggy back.

"Aniki, are we going out?" Agumon asked.

"We're going home," Masaru answered. "Before mom has a heart attack. I was supposed to bring Chika home two hours ago."

"Don't worry," Chika told him. "I'll say that I got lost and that you had to look for me."

"Why are you being so nice?" Masaru asked her.

"I didn't finish," Chika replied. "You have to promise that we'll stop and get ice-cream on the way home tomorrow."

Yoshino and the Captain saw a small grin tug at Masaru's lips before he stretched his arms over his head. "I dunno…" he sighed. "Maybe that's too much effort. Perhaps I should just admit I was late."

"Masaru-nii-chan," Chika pouted and elbowed Masaru in the thigh.

"Ow, all right, all right," Masaru laughed. "We'll get ice-cream tomorrow."

"YAY!" Agumon cheered. "Ice-cream!"

"You only get one cone this time," Masaru growled. "I'm not rich you know."

Agumon frowned. "But it's so good," he sighed.

"And expensive," Masaru finished. "One cone, that's it."

"All right," Agumon agreed. "One cone."

Chika giggled, "Agumon ate four cones last time. Almost as much as Masaru-nii-chan," she teased.

"Yeah, over a month!" Masaru argued. "Even I can't eat that much ice-cream."

Yoshino hid a smile and nodded at the captain. "I'll take my leave now," she said politely and left.

Masaru sighed, "We'll be going too. See you tomorrow, captain."

The captain nodded and Masaru pulled his sister and digimon out of Headquarters before any new embarrassing conversation could be started.

Masaru walked quietly into his house and took off his wet shoes as the last rays of the sun came through the open window. "Shhh," he told his sister and led her to her room. "Get changed," he told her and shut the door with a sigh.

"Aniki, you need to change too before mama comes back," Agumon told him.

"Right," Masaru sighed and walked into his room. "I just need to…" he opened the door of his room to find a very annoyed mother standing with her arms folded over her chest and her right foot tapping testily. "Oh boy," he sighed.

His mother crossed his room in three lengthy strides and looked him over. "You're soaked," she sighed. "And what on earth are you wearing?"

"My ummm… uniform," Masaru sighed as he took off the jacket top and placed it on the bed post.

His mother took it and held it in her hands. "It's soaked," she sighed. "I'll take it downstairs and dry it. Once you've changed bring me the rest and I'll wash it too."

"All right," Masaru mumbled. "Ummm…"

"Is Chika all right?" his mom asked.

"She's fine," Masaru said quickly. "Don't worry, nothing happened to her."

Masaru's mother smiled faintly. "You worry about her so much," she sighed. "You're so much like your father."

Masaru stiffened but didn't say anything. Agumon sensed the tension and chose to keep his mouth shut as well.

"Dinner is ready," she continued after it became clear that Masaru had nothing to say. "Tell Chika to come downstairs when she gets dressed and to give me her wet clothes."

"All right," Masaru replied as watched as his mom shut the door.

"She's quick," Agumon noted.

Masaru rolled his eyes, "I've never been able to keep anything from her. Even when I was a kid she always knew when I got into trouble." He opened a drawer and rooted around for a change of clothes. "That's what makes her such an annoyingly good mom, I guess."

"Mmm," Agumon said softly.

"Can you tell Chika to bring her clothes down to mom?" Masaru asked Agumon. "I need to get changed."

"All right, aniki!" Agumon said happily and left the room to relay the message to Chika.

Masaru sighed, "I hope that was it," he murmured to himself as he changed. Something told him that it wasn't and hoped desperately that the something was wrong. 


	3. Chapter 3

At dinner, Agumon and Masaru argued over who could have the last fish and a faux sword fight began between the two with their chop-sticks. Chika watched with a slightly annoyed, slightly amused look on her face as the two duked it out.

Finally, Masaru used the god given gift of opposable thumbs to use one chop stick to keep Agumon's at bay and the other to spear the fish and pop it in his mouth before Agumon could do anything. "Ha ha," he gloated as he chewed on the fish.

"Aniki," Agumon whined. "You're mean," Agumon let his eyes fill up with fake tears to try and get sympathy from someone.

"Masaru, Agu-chan is still young, you should let him eat the last fish," his mother scolded.

"I'm growing too," Masaru scoffed. "I need it more, besides, he's just upset that I got it first." Masaru grinned at Agumon who glared back.

"You two are so childish," Chika sighed. "I can't believe you're in high school, Masaru-nii-chan."

Masaru grinned and ate the last of his rice. "Maybe you're just too much like an old lady. You'll wrinkle early if you're so concerned when you're younger." He held out his bowl, silently indicating he wanted seconds.

"Masaru!" his mother scolded gently as she took his bowl and filled it with rice. "Be nice to your sister."

Masaru smirked but regretted it as Chika's foot connected with his shin. He winced but he knew better then to tell on her because she would just deny it and his mom would say how he was just being clumsy.

"And I'm a child?" he asked.

"At least I'm the right age," she whispered back.

Masaru noted that he had nothing to say to that, and he didn't even try. Instead he took the bowl of rice from his mother and began to shovel the grain into his mouth, giving himself a viable excuse for not answering.

The next day, Masaru gazed out of the window with a vacant expression in his eyes. He was tired, bored and slightly stressed from the night before. His physics teacher wasn't helping any as she gave a lecture on how any action is met with an equal and opposite reaction. Masaru could care less about the laws of physics and how it affected his person, he just wanted to continue the mission.

After Masaru had struggled through all his classes he raced home and quickly changed into his DATS uniform. As he was getting ready to go home, his mom stopped him short. "Masaru," she called from the kitchen in her 'I want you to do something' voice.

Masaru blinked and sighed as he put on his shoes by the door. "Yeah?" he called back in his 'Whatever it is I don't want to do it' voice.

"Can you pick up Chika from school? She needs help carrying home her clay project that she took in earlier this week," his mom replied.

"Moooooooom," Masaru whined. He may have claimed he was a man, but he wasn't beyond whining to get his way when he needed to. "Can't you go?"

"I need to cook dinner," she explained in a patient voice. "Look, Agu-chan can most certainly stay in that little device for a bit longer while you help your sister."

"But there's an evil digimon on the rampage!" Masaru called back as he put on his other shoe and got ready to bolt out the door.

"Masaru!" his mom walked into the hallway, hands on her hips and a no nonsense look in her eyes.

Masaru winced, stopping short of opening the door. His hand was poised over the knob and he looked guilty under his mom's hardened glare. "All right," he sighed. "I'll pick up Chika."

His mom's face relaxed into a smile and she walked back into the kitchen without another word. "Masaru's mom is scary," Agumon said softly.

"No kidding," Masaru replied and walked out into a light drizzle that had started only a few minutes before. He looked up at the sky and clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Tonight's going to be miserable if we don't finish Leomon off soon," he sighed.

"Chika first," Agumon said wisely.

"I know that," Masaru retorted angrily, two spots of color burning in his cheeks. He entertained the thought of getting an umbrella and quickly ran back inside to grab one that was by the door, shutting the door loudly before his mother could yell at him about procrastinating.

Walking briskly towards Chika's school, Masaru jumped as his communicator sprang to life and Touma's voice resonated angrily in his ear. "Where are you!"

Masaru winced and touched the device gingerly, turning down the volume in order to make sure he could still hear when he was 50. "I'm picking up Chika," he sighed.

"Well, we found Leomon by the docks and we need help," Touma snapped. "Mind coming down and doing your job?"

"That's not fair!" Masaru yelled back, his temper getting the better of him as he took off at a run towards Chika's school. "I'll be there as soon as I can, all right? Mom told me to pick up Chika and that comes first."

"Since when did you back down from a fight?" Touma growled.

Masaru sighed into the ear piece, which came out as a rush of static on Touma's end. "Look, you wouldn't understand okay? I made a promise to my mom a long time ago that until… something happened we'd always talk to each other and always look out for each other. There's no way getting around it, and as a man I will always keep my promises."

Touma blinked, then swallowed his retort as he got ready to evolve Gaomon. "Fine, but you better be here in the next 15 minutes or I will personally come hunt you down when this is over."

"I'll be there in ten," Masaru grinned and turned off the ear piece as he ran into the school yard of Chika's school.

Chika clutched her clay piece in her arms, trying to keep the rain from falling on it. She saw Masaru run into the yard and sighed, figuring that her mom couldn't make it. Her friend leaned over and whispered into her ear, "What is your older brother wearing?"

Chika blushed a little. It wasn't like wearing a uniform that looked like it came from an anime convention cosplay contest was very cool. She was amazed Masaru could run around town in something that made him look like a power ranger. "It's his work uniform," she replied.

Masaru ran up and held out the umbrella so that Chika could join him. "Come on, there's an emergency and I have to go. We'll get ice-cream tomorrow, I promise."

Chika blinked, having completely forgotten about his promise earlier and nodded. When she had joined him under the umbrella, he set a quick pace that Chika had a hard time keeping up with. "Why are you wearing that here?"

Masaru raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a little young to be getting embarrassed by the way I look?" he asked, sidestepping a rain puddle.

Chika shrugged, "Well, you're the one wearing the cosplay costume, not me."

"Hey, I'm getting yelled at by Mr. Perfect over here so I could pick you up from school," Masaru told her. "Be grateful."

"Oh, your friend in the car that dropped you off that one time?" she asked. "Last night he was there too… ummm… Touma-san?" she asked, her embarrassment forgotten. She loved hearing about what Masaru did, even though she didn't show it. He didn't talk about what he did very often and so gleaning whatever information she could from him was the only way to learn about it.

"Yes, Touma," Masaru affirmed. "Now let's go, I told him I'd be there in ten minutes and it's already been five." He glanced at his watch and looked around. "They're two streets over but I know there will be a road block of some kind."

Chika looked up at Masaru, surprised at how tense he was. Apparently, his current enemy had rubbed him the wrong way. She obliged and picked up the already hurried pace, practically jogging beside him as they came up to their house.

He turned and handed her the umbrella. "Here, tell mom I walked you all the way home."

"Wait!" Chika said, holding out the umbrella. "Won't you need this?"

Masaru grinned and shook his head. "Nah, we're going to be fighting, I don't need that to worry about." He turned and ran off, yelling something intelligible into his ear piece as he made his way towards whatever emergency needed taken care of. She sighed and walked into the house, greeting her mother and preparing for an evening of indoor activities as the rain poured outside.

Masaru ran past the road block set up by DATS and jumped in beside Touma just as Leomon hit Gaogamon in the side with a full on attack. "Ten minutes, I'm here," Masaru panted.

Agumon appeared next to Masaru without his prompting. "Way to go, Aniki!" he gushed.

Masaru grinned proudly and Touma elbowed him sharply. "Save the ego trip for later, we've got a problem here. He's getting more and more powerful."

Masaru rubbed his arm where Touma had elbowed it and frowned. "Well, then I need to get my digisoul if I'm going to be any help."

Touma glanced at him and Masaru fancied that a look of worry passed over his eyes before he hardened his gaze. "Go then, but wait for an attack from Gaogamon first."

Masaru nodded and raised himself up onto his toes as if he was about to run the 50 meter dash in school.

"Gaogamon, attack pattern C!" Touma yelled out and Gaogamon nodded. He ran at Leomon straight on and turned sharply to the left, body slamming the digimon and knocking him off balance.

Masaru took the opening and jumped high into the air, twisting his body in midair so that he landed on top of the huge digimon and hit him in the soft area of his shoulder. He knew that part to be a pressure point on the human body and the howl of pain that resulted from his attack told him that his little gamble had proven true. Leomon was vulnerable in that area as well.

His hand glowed a brilliant orange and began to tingle as he jumped smoothly off and landed next to Touma. He waved his hand and grinned, "See?" he asked.

Touma rolled his eyes. "Just evolve your digimon so we can finish this."

Masaru nodded and pulled out his digivice. He caught Agumon's eye and saw the lizard-like digimon give a curt nod and step forward. With a grin he placed his hand on top of the digivice and felt the power go into the electronic device. "Digisoul, charge!" he yelled out and got ready to fight earnestly. 


	4. Chapter 4

Geogreymon appeared in a flash of light and ran towards where Leomon was. The large dinosaur like digimon took the hit that Leomon aimed at him and growled as he grabbed the large fist in his claws and pulled hard on Leomon's arm. Leomon howled angrily as he was pulled forward into the ground by the larger digimon. 

"Good job!" Masaru cheered loudly. "Now, attack!"

Geogreymon obliged and let loose a huge fireball that landed directly on Leomon and set the surrounding area on fire. Geogreymon leaped back and skidded to a halt a few hundred meters away.

"Can you ever just fight without damaging everything around you?" Touma asked as he watched the fire burn. "We need to salvage a digiegg from that you know."

Masaru grinned at Touma and gave him a sheepish shrug. "Well, we defeated him, right?" he asked.

"That's not the point," Touma started but was cut off by a low growl coming from the flames. "What?" he asked, turning to face the small bonfire in the center of the dock.

Masaru turned as well. "No way," he said slowly. "There is no way that thing is still alive…"

"Aniki?" Geogreymon asked.

"Stay evolved," Masaru said slowly. "I don't think…" he started but the flames started to die down and Leomon's body could be seen coming from them. "Oh my god…" he said, almost shocked speechless.

"Heh, you put up a pretty good fight," Leomon said in a gravelly voice. "Come," he said and launched himself at Geogreymon again.

Geogreymon took the attack with his foreclaws and looked to Masaru for some kind of direction. No one had ever survived that hit before and he wasn't sure what to do.

"Knock him off balance!" Masaru yelled. "Get him down and try again."

"Do you think it will work?" Touma asked.

"Well, if this doesn't work then we'll just have to try something else," Masaru hissed.

"What?" Touma asked as he took out his digivice.

"When I think of something, I'll let you know," Masaru sighed and ran over to get a clearer view of the fight.

Touma resisted the urge to lecture Masaru about planning ahead but he knew that he didn't have the time. "Gaogamon!" he snapped and the large wolf like digimon appeared near him in a flash.

"Yes, master?" he asked respectfully.

"When I give you the signal, add your attack to Geogreymon's. Maybe a little more force is what we need," Touma ordered and pointed to where Masaru was running. "And make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Yes, master," Gaogamon said and ran towards the battle, passing Masaru up with ease and taking up his place next to Geogreymon.

Masaru turned to see Touma nod curtly. Masaru grinned and skidded to a halt, preparing his own orders as he watched Geogreymon continue to grapple with Leomon. "Come on," he muttered under his breath. "Just get him off balance."

Geogreymon saw Gaogamon come up beside him and shifted his weight so that Gaogamon could step up and help. Gaogamon used the red appendages that looked like a scarf to wrap around Leomon's legs as Geogreymon continued to hold Leomon's arms steady. Leomon grinned, his arms shaking with the effort it took to keep Geogreymon at bay. "Two against one?" he asked.

"Ignore him!" Masaru and Touma both yelled.

"Yes master!" Gaogamon replied and pulled with all his might.

"Right!" Geogreymon said at the same time and pushed.

Together, their combined efforts knocked Leomon off his feet and onto his back where he roared painfully. "Now!" Masaru and Touma both yelled and their digimon obliged by attacking at the same time and combining their attacks into one explosive fireball.

Leomon growled and held up his hands. He unleashed some kind of attack that appeared to glowed bright and was tinged red. Masaru and Touma both were forced to shield their eyes from the harsh glare of the attack as it meshed with Gaogamon and Geogreymon's combined forces.

As the attacks mixed together, the combined pressure of all three forces mixing was too much energy to be contained in one place. Several small explosions began to sound from the area where they mixed and Masaru could feel the heat on his face.

"Masaru," Touma choked into his ear piece as he backed up. "Get out of there. It's too much."

Masaru took a few steps back from the rush of wind that issued from the explosions. He knew that it was on a whole different level and that he couldn't hope to stay in that area without getting hurt. He gritted his teeth and touched his fingers to the receiver on his ear piece so that he could be heard. "I'm coming," he gasped into the ear piece and continued to back up.

"Good. There's a stack of crates…" Touma's voice began but a rush of static cut him off as the final explosion sounded and all three digimon disappeared in a bright light. "Masaru?" Touma asked. "Hey! Masaru?" He was only greeted with static from Masaru's end.

Touma jumped out from behind his hiding place and ran out onto the final battlefield. If he thought it was messed up before, it was nothing compared to what he saw then. Everything was rubble and the only bit of the docks that he was on that remained in tact were the crates and boxes that held the goods that were being stored there. The machines, boats and even the concrete ground were all cracked and roughed up from the explosion that came from the mixture of the three attacks.

Touma coughed as the dust settled and waved his hand in front of his face in a vain effort to clear the air in front of him. "Masaru?" he called out.

Gaomon and Agumon stumbled out from the thickest part of the smoke. Gaomon supported a red spackled digiegg and Agumon looked a little more then bemused. It seemed that the attack they had been caught up in did quite a bit of damage to them as well. "Where's…aniki?" Agumon gasped.

"Masaru is…" Touma scanned the area. "I don't know. I lost contact with him about 45 seconds ago. Is the target secure?" he asked Gaomon.

Gaomon set the digiegg down gently. "Yes master," he replied.

Touma nodded. "All right then. Find Masaru and let's call in this mess before we get caught by the police."

"Yes, master," Gaomon said and disappeared into the smoke. Agumon did as well and Touma picked up the digiegg and turned his ear piece onto a different channel.

"I have secured the digimon, Leomon. Digiegg at area C, section 3, awaiting pickup. Also, heavy damage to area due to attack mishap. Requesting cleanup crew and a possibly medic," he said quickly and put the digiegg down on some crates. "Dammit Masaru," he hissed. "You just had to be right next to the damn battle, didn't you?"

His ear piece crackled to life and Masaru's voice could be heard. "Heh, well, you know how I work, don't you?" he asked weakly.

Touma's eyes widened and he switched the channel to a private one. "Where are you?" he asked and looked around. He noticed that the dust was beginning to settle and that everything was a little more clear.

"I'm by some crates. I was blown away by the after shock but I think I'll be fine," Masaru said.

Touma switched the ear piece channel to a private one and looked around. "Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm…" Masaru began but he was cut off by his Digimon discovering where he was.

"Aniki!" Agumon's voice came in loud and clear through Masaru's ear piece and Masaru's protests could be hear over Agumon's cheers.

"I'm fine!" Masaru yelled. "Sheesh."

Touma winced at the sound and turned down the volume. "You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm a little banged up but it's not as bad as it could have been," Masaru admitted.

Touma walked over to where he saw a little shadow in the settling dust. He came through it and saw Masaru sitting down, with Agumon on top on him, looking a little annoyed. "There you are," he said.

Masaru jumped at hearing Touma's voice over the ear piece and directly into his ear and turned slowly to face him. "Hi," he said with a sheepish grin. "I didn't get out of the way quickly enough."

"I see that," Touma said dryly. Gaomon appeared silently at his elbow and Masaru made his way slowly to his feet. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again.

"I'm fine!" Masaru said forcefully. "Seriously. I. Am. Fine."

Touma shrugged. "All right then. I'll go back and file this in. You go home and get cleaned up."

"You sure?" Masaru asked, blinking a little.

Touma nodded and stepped forward. He reached out and touched a reddened spot over Masaru's eye that caused the teen to gasp out in pain. "I'm sure," he said with a dry smile. "You're more hurt then you think."

"Aniki," Agumon looked up at Masaru with a frown.

Masaru touched the spot gingerly and hissed at his own touch. "I'll be fine," he growled. "And I'll come in tomorrow."

"All right," Touma agreed. "See you then. And say hi to your little sister for me."

Masaru started to walk home and raised his hand in acknowledgement to Touma's request. Touma shook his head and sighed. "Think his mom will catch him?" he asked Gaomon.

"I think Chika-san will get to him first," Gaomon said wisely.

Touma nodded his agreement, then went back to the digiegg to await the rest of the DATS members.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Masaru walked into his house as quietly as he could. He and Agumon both looked around as Masaru slipped off his shoes and walked as quietly as they could up the stairs. About halfway up someone cleared their throat behind them, causing them both to freeze midstep. "Masaru-nii-chan, why are you going upstairs when dinner is about to start?" Chika asked.

"I uhhh…" Masaru turned around slowly. "I need to change," he lied.

Chika padded up the stairs after him and frowned. "You look kinda dirty. What happened?"

"Well, we got the bad guy," Masaru said with a quick grin as he started to go up the stairs backwards. "But Agumon's attack was really big so it got kind of messy."

"Right, right!" Agumon agreed quickly.

Chika followed them. "Really?" she asked, looking at Masaru scrutinizingly.

"Really," Masaru assured her.

"Really, really?" Chika asked.

"Yeup!" Masaru said and stepped into his room. Agumon dashed inside and Masaru swung the door so that only his head could stick out. "Now I'm going to change. Go downstairs and get ready for dinner," he said and shut the door with a click. He sighed in relief and shook his head. "Thank god I got away from that."

"Away from what?" his mom asked from behind him.

Masaru blinked. "Oh crap," he said softly.

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Masaru's mom dabbed the wound lightly and sighed as Masaru yelped. "Really now. You couldn't ask for help with this?" she asked. "And you didn't think I wouldn't notice? It's the size of a chicken egg."

Masaru frowned. "It's just a bump."

"A big one," his mom corrected him. "You could have been seriously hurt," she said and put a bandage with some medicine in it over the cut. "This'll help the swelling go down. Now I want you to eat dinner and then do your homework and go to bed. Okay?"

"But…" Masaru started.

"Okay?" his mom asked in a tone of voice that left no room for arguing.

"O-okay," Masaru said quietly.

"Aniki?" Agumon asked.

Masaru sighed. "Just my luck. Mom was waiting the whole time," he frowned and put his head in the palms of his hands. "Figures."

"She was worried," Chika told him. "And besides, you are hurt. Now let's go eat," she said and walked out of the room.

"Fine, fine," Masaru groaned and followed his little sister into the dining room to eat dinner.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

So, I've been waiting this whole time for the sub of 7 to come out so that I could get Chika and Touma's personalities a little better. That's why this took forever to update, for the three of you that care XD Anyways, here's the next bit. I plan to update my other Savers fic soon and possibly get out a one shot or two later on. Yay!


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